Failed to extract project files

[sodiac750]

I've spent around 2 months on a scene in moho and then today after restarting my pc I can't open any of the versions of it. It always says: Failed to extract project files

What do I do? I need your help!

[Greenlaw]

Ugh...I'm assuming you never did incremental saves or backups? This is something everybody should do when working in any program.

Anyway, the first thing I would try is check if Moho performed an Autosave of the file. To do this on Windows, look in the following folder:

C:\Users\[Your User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Smith Micro\Moho Pro\12\Autosave

This directory may be a hidden on your system, but you can reveal it from Folder Options.

(This should be similar on Mac, but I don't know what the path is on Mac. Maybe somebody reading this can append this info.)

Naturally, this assumes you have Autosave in Moho enabled. If there is a file or files in the directory, one of them may be a copy or recent copy of your file. Try copying the files from here and opening them in Moho. Hopefully, one of them is the one your looking for. I can't recall if the files in this directory have the proper file extension for Moho, but if not, you can change it for compatibility.

If the file you want doesn't exist here, maybe you can salvage the original file you do have. Check its file size. If it's greater than 0, maybe the data is still there. That's not something I'm able to help with, but try posting it here and maybe somebody more knowledgeable about Moho's file format can assist.

Hope this helps.

[sodiac750]

Thank you for your help.

I have autosave disabled because moho works 2x faster for me that way.

And yes I do save different versions of the project every week. I did it today, but nothing from that scene can be opened. The latest version that can be opened is from October 2020. Every other one gives the same error.

Here's the project file that gives me an error: https://we.tl/t-O4ZEH43RCa

[Greenlaw]

Hmm...yeah, I'm seeing the same error with this file here.

But at least, there's data in the file. I hope somebody here will know where to take this next.

Re: Autosave, I haven't heard of it slowing down performance before. Is this a continuous or intermittent issue? Which version of Moho are your using? I know the earliest versions of Moho 12 had problems with Autosave but that was fixed in later versions.

The only other option I can think of is to check Window's Previous Versions feature. But this assumes the feature was enabled before the data got corrupted, plus, I'm not sure Previous Versions goes back that far in time. (FWIW, I rely on this feature all the time at work; I really should start using it at home too.)

[synthsin75]

Wow, that's a big file (2.15 GB unzipped). I would suggest breaking up such large projects into smaller scenes or segments.
I'll look into this when I have the time.

[SimplSam]

I don't think the file is corrupt, but (as mentioned) when uncompressed and extracted to a plain-text project file - it is over 2GB in size.

This is causing major worries on my system, and most Windows programs don't seem to be able to handle a file that size.

Is there something in particular you are doing with the file to make it so large? Is there lots of repetitive content, layers, keyframes?

[Greenlaw]

Yeah, I thought this file seemed unusually big too, especially since it took a long time loading. (Before failing and reporting the error, I mean.) My own Moho animations at work can sometimes get complex but the projects aren't nearly this huge in file size. I agree with Wes: if you manage to get this file open, suggest you break it down into smaller projects.

If you have individual scenes in your animation, you should be saving separate projects at each cut-point. Even when I'm animating a single but extra-long continuous shot, I may still break up it up into separate projects to keep it easier to animate and manage. The separately rendered scenes are then assembled in a video editor or compositing program.

Later today, I'll try opening this file on my workstation. It has a lot more RAM than my laptop. (That said, my laptop has 32GB of RAM, which is normally more than enough for complex scenes.)

[SimplSam]

Managed to gather some eye-watering summary stats for the project / file:

Code: Select all

Resolution:      3840 x 2160
Frames:          720
Styles:          349
Shapes:          162,771
Points:          1,121,426
Actions:         92
Bones:           2,685
Keyframes:       188,066 (est.)
Layers:          22,143
  Audio:   - 1
  Bone:    - 80
  Group:   - 3869
  Image:   - 3
  Switch:  - 1519    
  Vector:  - 16,671

[synthsin75]

Over 1,000 layers of any type in one file is crazy. How do you even manage working in a file like that?